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Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you
should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“From the Depths was released via our website on the 1st of January in a pre-alpha state and the involvement from the community was amazing. We averaged a new release every 4 days for 6 months and the experience of developing with the help of the player has been absolutely priceless. By releasing in early access on Steam we hope to grow the customer base and make sure the game is tailored to new players and veterans alike!”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“From The Depths will be in development for approximately 6 months before the entire wish-list is included, however development will continue for as long as there are players!”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The full game will have more multiplayer support, include more story missions, a more advanced Campaign mode, and more components. Funding from the early access stage will also allow us to add a professional artist to the team to rework the graphical side of the game.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Approximately 50 player tested releases in and very stable. 225 different components, not including 19 missile parts. A totally free-form designer mode, structured story missions and an extremely challenging open world Campaign mode all exist. Multiplayer is being added and is testable in an extremely early state.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“The price may increase slightly in the full release.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The forum at http://www.fromthedepths.com/forum is the main hub of interaction between developers and players. Almost every player comment is read and replied to by a developer. The vast majority of the features in the first 50 versions of the pre-alpha were added due to player request or through open discussion with the players.”

January 28

It's been a long time since a stable branch release, but there have been many developments in the development branch in that time. The game has an extra 70 build in designs for the campaign, loads of new physics tweaks, new missile components, a qualification mode for empirically testing your designs and the multiplayer client side experience has been much improved and bandwidth requirements reduced significantly. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy the new release :)

Change logs

[bug fix] Sails and sailing AI were supposed to be locked by DWG mission 2, not mission 1

Tractor beam bug fixed (problems with new drag mechanic)

Rudders made more powerful

Launch pad ejector component added for missiles to speed up launch

Floating point precision issues fixed so jitter is gone

AP increases for cannons start at AP 3, as intended

Option to load vehicles out of play (campaign) to avoid any loading crashes

[bug fix] Missile winch timed release bug fixed

Local weapon controller setting synced between host and clients

Same for Aerial AI card
Same for Naval AI card
Same for air pump
Same for Automatic Control Block
Same for Local Weapon Controller
Same for laser warner and smoke deployer
More physics calculations done on the client as well as the host
Propulsion and steering systems done on the client as well as the host
Consumables (ammo,fuel,spares) distributed amoung all containers and synced to clients
Electric charge, cannon ammo box ammo and engine own fuel levels are synced to clients
Projectiles more efficiently syncronised
AI mainframe direct connection to smoke/warners/and some others is now fixed

Fixed bug when returning to lobby from AI fight mode

Ammo & oil processor, scrap producer and generator on off state is syncronised

Bug fix with inventory and repair tentacle fixed

Repair bots no longer use much bandwidth in multiplayer

Repair tentacles show repairing on client

Missiles only syncronised for a period of time after launch (depends on volume of missile spam)

Target Prioritisation Card synced between client and host
So is sign post
So is hydrofoil
So are misisle winch and missile staggered firing unit and missile blocks and missile component parameters

Build modes (simple and complex) improved somewhat

Issues with strategic patrol GUI cleared up

Link to complex controller manual page from inventory

Angular drag depends on distance of the surface area from the centre of mass

December 29, 2014

Over the Xmas period a lot of things changed regarding the drag calculations. Drag is now applied in three axes (forwards/backwards, left/right, up/down). "Form Drag" as usual depends on speed and cross sectional area in the direction of movement (and the submersion in water of that cross sectional area) but now also contains "skin drag" components from the length of the vehicle. Sloping the vehicle can reduce the "form drag" but cannot reduce the "skin drag" components. Press V to see the form and skin drag components in the forwards dimension. Due to this series of updates both planes and ships handle slightly differently. Some of your old designs might not control very well anymore and may need some tweaks. Some tips for updating vehicles: reduce the number of propellers and size of sails; Increase size of buoyant air pumped compartments; Place keels made of lead below the center of the ship; keep heavy components as low down as possible.

Reviews

“My jaw almost hit the floor when I installed a few community made vehicle blueprints. The creativity and ingenuity on display was simply incredible [...] there is no doubt that this game is going to be truly epic”
Game Ramble

“The game’s physic system is especially impressive. Giant galleons feel like absolute tanks trudging through the ocean, while speedboats slice through the waves at a precarious pace [...] Combat is chaotic and intimately customizable. There is perhaps no greater pleasure than executing a successful broadside”
Denkiphile

Workshop

Share your vehicle blueprints via the workshop

Feature List

A huge game world explorable from the ocean depths into outer space.

A full and accurate physics model including dynamic damage simulation, sailing mechanics and weather effects.

Battle against fleets of AI craft and build your own to meet the menace.

Build fortress bases, mine for resources and battle other factions in campaign mode where strength and diplomacy are the keys to victory.

In-game Steam workshop support to share your creations with the world.

RPG-Style character progression with levels, perks, skills and inventory systems.

Available now on PC, Mac and Linux.

About This Game

Summary

In From the Depths you can build and take first-person command of battleships, planes, submarines, giant terrible geese, space ships, hot air balloons and more! The game is currently in alpha and contains a wide range of single player content including:

A creative mode allowing you to push your designs to the limit and ensure the total annihilation of your opponents.

A campaign waged over hundreds of islands against eight unique factions.

A Story Mode where you can (eventually!) play 15 missions as each of the eight factions - a fantastic mixture of strategy, design and wild battles! Defend your fleet against waves of enemy forces in a series of extremely tough challenges that unlock new components.

An expansive multiplayer and co-op element is planned for the coming months!

Key Features

Design and build your fleet, fortresses and structures however you want. The alpha currently has 279 unique components blocks, not including 19 different components for making missiles, torpedoes, depth charges and bombs.

Realistic physics - every block destroyed or added affects the vehicle's functionality, physics and control. Drag, inertia tensors, buoyancy and sealed compartments are all updated based on the design of your vehicle and the damage sustained.

Be part of a fantastic community (http://www.fromthedepthsgame.com/forum), with new releases made on average twice a week. Community organised challenges and blueprint sharing make it an extremely friendly place to hang out!

Customisable Components

The customisable components in From the Depths allow a unique level of engineering customisation:

Design custom cannons by combining four different barrel types and lengths with autoloaders, warhead types, ammo boxes and auxiliary components to create everything from AA cannons to howitzers.

Design custom AI by combing an AI mainframe with 'AI cards' slotted into motherboard blocks. Add radar detection, laser detection and tracking and local weapon controllers to give partial or full control to AI. Create anything from a fully AI controlled aircraft carrier to a battery powered drone.

Design custom engines using crank shafts, cylinders, carburetors, super chargers, exhausts and fuel injectors. Electric engines, generators and chargers are also available for backup power supplies and drones.

Similar systems exist for the creation of anti-vehicle and anti-missile lasers, as well as drills that can cut even the largest of battleships in half.

>Buys From the Depths, having seen some of the gameplay.>Messes around in vehicle design mode.>Ends up spawning an enemy ship, whom promptly started to wreck my s***.>Restarts designer after saving vehicle.>Resumes work on said vehicle, CAPSLOCK'ing to hold it in place, starting to work on cannons.>Finds the custom cannons and starts making one after looking at short in-game tutorial.>Wants to make an artillery-like cannon, thus making the barrel twice as thick as my guy is tall, the barrel thrice as long as the whole f***ing tiny boat I got it on.>S***-eating grin the whole time, mind going rampant on the carnage it could possible do given the stats.>Spawns a Vanguard to test it out on.>Unfreezes the ship to try and aim the cannon at it.>Forgot about bouyancy and the weight of the cannon, ship sinks.>Forgot ammunition barrels to make sure the Really Really Big Gun could even fire.>Neglected to put said cannon on turret for me to actually aim it.>Enemy boat takes out the barrel then me after.>Flips table and restarts the designer, loads ship to prior the cannon.>Actually looks at tutorials on how to make a tub that won't sink.>Repeat this for over a month, getting better and better at ship designing.>Current project is a giant-♥♥♥ floating fortress of death.>Armed with lasers, underside cannons, and missile arrays to possibly take out fleets.>Has enough power to supply a small town, fuel for several airports, and can rip up supplies from the earth at a rate for a small army.>Grins evilly and spawns another Vanguard.>Weapons turn to fire at it, ripping the little ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to shreds.>Missiles start flying, me thinking they were going to utterly decimate it.>Finds out that the missiles aren't even turning towards it, instead just flying up towards the sky.>Computer's taking a s*** in framerate due to the number of missiles that go flying.>Gets so bad that game ends up crashing.

I've played for a little over ten hours now, and it's still faily confusing. I can build small vessels, make custom (Somewhat working) cannons and gun batterys, but large ships, planes, spaceships, or heck, engines? Not a chance. If you don't mind a confusing start (Or i'm overlooking something) this game is great.

Taking part in a massive fleet battle, with aircraft carrying out bombing runs on enemy ships, or defending your flagship from airborne threat. Submarines sneaking in to sink enemy command vessels, cruisers firing missiles at the enemy, small attack boats dodging in and out launching torpedos, high altitude bombers obliterating enem coastal gun positions. You take a look around as a ship slowly capsizes and begins to sink, or another plows into a smaller enemy ship, snapping it in half, and you can't help but be impressed. At it's best this game is just incredible, plain and simple. The basic buidling is essentially easy, but getting the balance right, and the finer points, like weapons, propulsion, and control (Rigging the thing up to an AI system) is complicated at best.

This is well worth the twenty dollars, even for an early access game. I have yet to find something that even comes close to this. If you don't really want to part with that much money for it though, pick it up on sale. This truely is a great game.

The graphics are fairly decent, the underwater scene could use some help, it's very barren, but the gameplay compensates for this. Who has time for scenerey when your jet powered submarine plane is racing along at high speed.

Bear in mind this game is EARLY ACCESS! As a result you will find bugs, problems, and other manner of in development game problems. But this game is coming along nicely, and I rarely encounter a bug. If you've got the money, and are a fan of naval combat pick up a copy (And one for a friend while you're at it.)

Great game very difficult learning curve at first but once you get the hang of it you can make litterlally anything you want. im a little lazy as you can see that after the 1st sentence my grammar is decreasing drastically so ill keep this short. dont buy if if you dont have a lot of learning and experamtion time otherwise get it right now and watch youtube vids while its downloading

I booted up the game for the first time, spawned in a bunch of AI ships in the creative editor, watched them blow each other up for 30 minutes, and exited to find I had reached EXP Level 10. I don't even know if that's a decent level or not. Level 10/10

The depths in creativity relative to Minecraft, the tactical warfare similar to many RTS's. Missles, Cannons, Lasers, Drills, Harpoons, Mines.Tactical maps, fleet control, campaign.Boats, Planes, Fortresses, Submarines, Flying-Boat-Fortress-Submarines...A.I that is constantly being updated for more control over how you can have A.I manage your creations!The game seems to be blending a sandbox theme into a RTS theme (which I LOVE).

Good development team also, they seem to be working very hard, and always love to hear suggestions on the forum.9.5/10 (because theres room for so much more)

Day one I was so proud of myself because my boat floated.Day two I was so proud of myself because my boat moved...three, so proud my boat moved where I wanted it to....four, so proud my boat took out the simplest enemy with simple cannons....my boat is fitted with The Worlds Biggest Cannon and I shred through a four enemies.....I refit my boat into a destroyer with mega rocket torpedoes and can take out most sensibly sized boats one to one......I rig AI to my weapons and my boat becomes massively more deadly.......I rig AI to movement and my boat becomes self-aware........I launch a whole fleet of boats.........My fleet of boats is joined by a fleet of light helicoptersTomorrow? I think I need a new flagship... Maybe a space station? Or a giant submarine... Who knows!

The learning curve isn't that bad either, despite there being a lot going on. Just focus on one thing at a time - don't look at helicopters until you've grasped boats (or vice versa). There's lots of (good) teaching material, and the creative mode editor is great to play around in. I suggest giving your character the cheats early on in creative mode as they will help you move around and deal with "I really shouldn't have spawned that yet" enemies (I'm inside your megaship, death raying your ai mainframez).

10/10 This game is the PINNACLE of an early access game This is EXACTLY what early access should be. It's a near-finished product with the developer Nick Smart taking an interest in the community and taking their advice. This game deserves SO much more attention. than it's getting now. Buy this game, and you WILL NOT regret it. I'll even play with you add me! :D

I was only 9 years old. I loved Deepwater Guard so much, I had all the Deepwater Guard story missions completed. I pray to Deepwater Guard every night before heading back to the fortress, thanking them for the resources I've been given. "Deepwater Guard is love" I say; "Deepwater Guard is life". My fleet hears me and calls me a traitor. I knew they were just jealous of my devotion to Deepwater Guard. I call them scrap. They fire missiles at me and send me back to the fortress. My ship is damaged now, and my hull really hurts. I stay at the dock and it's really cold. Suddenly, a fleet is moving towards me. It's the Deepwater Guard. I am so happy. They come closer to me and whisper into my ear "CREEEEAAAK". They grab me with their powerful harpoons and pull me under the water. I'm ready. I spread my hull for Deepwater Guard. Their cannonballs penetrate my ammo supply. They explode so much but I do it for Deepwater Guard. I can feel my engine tearing as my ship fills with water. I push against their force. I want to please Deepwater Guard. They creak as they fill my ship with their cannonballs. My fleet arrives. Deepwater Guard looks them right in the AI mainframe and says "CREEEEAAAKKK". Deepwater Guard leaves through the ocean. Deepwater Guard is love, Deepwater Guard is life.

This is an absolutely, positively magnificent game. Don't scroll down just yet, I have an explanation for my madness.

This is an engineering game with block style building and heavy sandbox elements. One could say that this is like Space Engineers, but there's something different. The craft you build serve a point. There's a dynamic, open world war-like campaign that you must build and design craft for (or snipe them off of the workshop and learn how they work,) to complete.

In this campaign you'll be introduced to several factions with vessels that are very different per faction (The developer is currently taking user submissions that fit a certain faction's theme) that you must design crafts that can combat this.

I keep saying the word "craft" in place of boat because it can be anything. Boats, planes, land vehicles, spacecraft, ballooncraft, submarines, anything you can design can come to life in this with its simple automation that you can put in place.

While this game, at the time of the review, has a small-but-growing community, it is VERY robust, there has to be the highest ratio of players that are also streamers and youtubers to regular players I've ever seen. There's loads of tutorials and user submitted designs on the official forums (don't let the Steam forums decieve you.)

And for those holdouts that are concerned about the longevity and developer-community relations on this product, the developer is very active on the official forums, with, to date, 18% of all the total posts on the forums being his. He constantly throws out suggestions that he wants to see in the game to gauge community reaction as well as take in any well-thought-out revisions that the community members have to offer. There's even been a quote of him saying "I can put it in, people just need to ask for it." When it comes to longevity, it used to be just him on the project, but I've seen some more people come on as official staff.

This is a hidden gem. I want the world to see it. My rating? 15 out of 10.

This is BY FAR one of the best titles that you will find in Early Access. The Devs are very active and devoted to creating a new and brilliant style of gameplay. If you want proof of this, just check out the forums; Nick Smart (one of the devs) is constantly interacting, updating, explaining, and accepting new ideas with members of the forum. From the Depths is a very unique RTS, sandbox, and RPG mashup that flows together very well.

The biggest feature that this game has to offer is the vehicle designer gamemode (In a way, the creative mode that many of you understand well). You start out an a little wooden raft and are free to build whatever your creativity can come up with. 17th Century Sailboat? (Yes there are sails in the game) Done. Civil war ironclad? Done. Speedy figher jet that drops bombs everywhere? Done. Alien spaceship invasion force? Done. Rocket powered speed boat? Can do. You add an AI mainframe onto the ship and suddenly, it comes to life, full sail with lasers for broadsides. You test it to ensure its absolute domination on the sea against other creations. It works, you tested it, and it looks great; now, you use it to take over the world.

The next step is the campaign gamemode. You spawn in the world on the bottom left corner of the game's map. You have a starting fortress and a limited amount of resources. Soon, you'll have an enemy fleet coming for an attack. You fix your fortress, gather some resources, and build your first dinky wooden warship. With that warship, you capture enemy resource territories and build a fleet to take on the world. You build several of that hulking mashup of a sailboat and science fiction and wipe the other factions off the map, all while acting like you're some space pirate here to steal the world's loot.

And that's just scratching the surface.

From the Depths has a whole other level of detail that goes into the creation of your weapons and ship internals. Engines are the first step, with the engine block connected to crank shafts, connected to cylinders, connected to carbeurators, connected to fuel tanks as well as.... You get it. You can customize fuel efficiency vs. power production. You make power so that your cannons can work... with their firing pieces, various barrel types, explosive amunition... Same sort of thing. This pattern continues with the lasers, the missiles/bombs/torpedos/mines, the drills, the custom jet engines. and the AI. But you also have to pay attention to the hull, because if you make a large rectangle with a flat frontal surface, it will barely move due to drag. But watch out for that armor, because if you neglect it your ammunition barrels will get hit and explode.

THAT is the level of detail that you will find in From the Depths.

All vehicles are affected by physics. A missing wing will cause you to spiral out of control. A damaged engine won't provide as much thrust. A hull breach caused by ammunition storage going off will cause your heavily armored battleship to sink to the ocean floor.

The wonderful thing about it: there is no ONE way to play the game. There is no single prediscovered tactic that if-you-don't-use-you-won't-win sort of thing (Civ V I'm looking at you). Any branch of tactic can work, AND WORK WELL. It's very well balanced. A fleet of airships can do well, a fleet of submarines can do well, a modern navy can do well also.

Basic features:-Vehicle creation-RTS campaign-Diplomacy-Underwater warfare, naval warfare, land warfare (soon to be ironed out as it is not fully fleshed out yet), air combat, and space combat (soon to be fleshed out as well)-Story missions-Limited Multiplayer (currently undergoing major optimization and expanding)-Strategic control of forces-Epic explosions and vehicle destruction!

Bugs:Very few, and the few there are are very quickly stamped out by the Devs. None will be game breaking.

Preformance:Decent, as it currently uses up a whole lot of CPU once the bigger battles commence. (However, there are options in the gameplay that allow you to limit immediate size of battles so that you can keep your computer at a decent FPS.) It can get quite laggy, but it's not horrifying if you have a moderately decent computer. To give perspective, when I originally got this game, all I had was a Macbook Pro (sad days). I could run the game with a few fairly large ships in and still have plenty of FPS to have a good experience.

In all, I love it. Many Early Access titles have reviews that say a game shows "promise". Many of these games never fufil their promises unfortunately. From the Depths, however, has already fufilled its promise! The game is already more immersive in Early Alpha than many games become in years. The promise of From the Depths is now being told in what comes in the future to further gameplay and depth.

Hopefully, over 400 hours put into a game that is still technically in pre-alpha is a good indication on what and where FTD is going.

!!!----------------------------!!!-------------------------------!!!

BUT,this all obviously takes some time. It will take a while to learn how to use the game. You will spend up to several hours making a ship. This will only appeal to certain people. If you are looking for a small game to pass a little bit of time, this is not for you. If you do not have the patience to use the game to its fullest extent, look somewhere else. It will feel like a waste of money if you cannot afford that.IF you have all of these, as well as some creativity and desire, you will love it as well.

Please give the game more than 15 minutes before you get mad and post a negative steam review, it is well worth it if you look past the game's surface.

An absolutely fantastic building game based around combat vehicles. You can build ships, planes, submarines, airships, helicopters, spaceships and pretty much anything else you can think of.

There is a beautiful amount of customization in this game. You can build your own engines, cannons, missiles, lasers and jets from individual components.

Sloped armor and angling makes a difference in this game. Shells that hit at an odd angle are more likely to ricochet. The size of the cannon and the kind of ammunition can change how easily a shell can bounce.

It is very stable for an early access game. I've never crashed once.

Definitely recommended to anyone who likes block-based building and vehicular combat!

When I first saw this game I thought that it was going to be another "Get wrecked by everything because nothing tells you how to do anything" games. So, one friday I figure, what the heck, I'll try it out. What's the worst thing that could happen. So I started playing. It was alot easier to pick up than I thought, yet, way more fun than I anticipated. I started out and just tried making a few different ships, got campaign going. Aaaaannnd...It's 2 O'Clock monday morning. If you like build'em to fight'em games. It's a must have. 9.5/10

Only problem i've had so far with this game is it using up most of my free time, seriously.

First thing most people may think when they see the block system in the game is to think of this as a game like Minecraft. Trust me; calling this Minecraft would be like calling "Space Engineers" Minecraft. Honestly Space Engineers would be a far better game for comparison to FTD than Minecraft. Does Minecraft have missiles, space-ships and lasers? Didnt think so.....

You can basically build just about anything from Submarines to boats to spaceships in a pretty wide variety of ways, Land structures and vehicles are also gonna be in the game in some time. The engine is very versatile, and the game is VERY stable for a Pre-Alpha game; seriously ive run into more or less no major issues so far. The campaign mode is aimed to be a very strategic mode where you basically command fleets of vessels (designed by you and made using resources harvested by you!) against the AI factions and there own respective fleets; each faction having unique designs, tactics and difficulty.

Now onto the frequent complains that negative reviewers are making about the UI and control system. The Control systems basically designed to give a high amount of fine control over block placement; giving control over all 3 Axis using a combination of WASD keys and the mouse, which helps when your making complicating designs. It also makes it easier to edit componnents that are deep inside the constructs hull; letting you reach and change them easily without having to strip off parts to reach it directly. Despite its versatility and varied usage I really dont think it takes too long to get the hang of the control system; but if you really cant stand it the game also offers a much simpler "Look and place" build mode. Building stuff and making it work is a lot easier than people keep saying it is; while at the same timing perfectly optimising something to run via the AI system can be a very interesting challenge for those that wanna have a go at it.

tl;dr: Its a lot easier than most people keep saying it is; and if you played Space Engineers (or another similar build-style game) and liked it then youll most likely love this.

Excellent game, just a bit rought around the edges! This game has a huge amount of poetential, it just isn't fully finished. The idea behind the game is great, basically it is an open world vehicle-building game, with an emphasis on physics and battles. The Dev is extremely active in the community, and responds to players' suggestions and new ideas.

Give it time, and I think this game will shape up to be truly amazing!

I was in my large attack aircraft when 2 small fighters appeared. I had to take them out. I increase my speed and lead them along, hoping to avoid the missiles they are firing. I fire my own missiles and take out the AI on one of them and he falls into the ocean, a hunk of steaming scrap metal. The other one fires missiles at the rear of my aircraft and hits but does little damage due to the heavy armor. I then fire some missiles and take out his wings and weapons. He falls into the ocean and I finish him off, producing a large, fiery explosion from the ammo barrels.10/10It's worth the money.

Ok, this sandbox game, THIS sandbox game, THIS SANDBOX GAME, right here, if you are in to SANDBOX GAMES, this is it for you! The developer is doing an insane job with updates, and he is truly building an outstanding sandbox game *with an awesome mix of campaign/strategy gameplay* that just blew my mind away. I play minecraft, terraria, starbound, space engineers, etc etc, and this one took me from all of them. Absolutely awesome game, great updates on a routine basis, open minded developer, great player community, and a fun and interactive experience to keep you looking forward to playing when you get off work huzzah!!! I highly HIGHLY recommend it, big time kudo's to the dev.

*Adding notes*

Mk so, reading my review, I realized it doesn't really, give a great review. It's just me being like, super excited because I love the game. So i'm gonna go for a more 'in depth' approach to some things i've come to love and the things i enjoy but, don't love....yet >.>

First off, the pro's and cons.

Pro's

1 Great building interface, with 2 ways to build, keyboard and mouse. Both of which have their own pros/cons. It also boasts a significant variety of blocks making every creation truly unique in it's own way. 2 Sub assembly system - Ever build something on something else, and wish you could take that something off the something else, and put it on something else? Well, in this, you can. Say you make a kick ♥♥♥ turret on one ship hull, but realize the hull just wasn't the right style, and couldn't hang. Well, damn, you don't want to rebuild that turret all over so, you make the hull work, right? Wrong, you can save subassemblies so that when you build more ships later you can add the same things to them w/out having to do all the work to recreate the things that work3 4 area's of combat *although space has been...interesting...follow up on that in the cons >.>* You can fight on land, sea, air, and yes, even space. 4 AI system for your creations to make your own fleet and evolving options to control the actions of your AI drones. I for example have my B-ship i control, with 4 fighters and a destroyer escort that are all AI controlled to escort my Big boat ♥♥♥ around. w00t w00t5 Open minded and honest hard working dev team. Now as of now, the only 'dev' i know of, is Mr. Nick Smart. But he has been ON IT. I mean, I participate in alot of early access games. And this is the only one where the dev is constantly in the forums, posting on others and publishing his own, on a frequent basis. He is constant with updates, and is truly doing a phenominal job trying to keep the game in the direction his vision has for it. 6 Campaign system - ok this will be my last pro, as I don't want to bore anyone Ok so, the campaign, has some ups and downs of it's own. Upsides - harvest multiple resource zones, have multiple fleets, multiple battle fronts, simple interface to navigate around your fleets, simple dipolomacy panel to piss peeps off or make them like you, Pretty good map layout, difficult AI once you get about 1/2 across the map. Overall the campaign, I luv it. I know there are some things in the works so i'm going to list them in the cons section BUT, big disclaimer, they are already on nicks workload and I can't wait to see what he hits us with when he starts evolving them.

MK so, Cons. I'll be honest, not alot of huge game crippling things i have found. There are some nuisances but, the dev's actively working on them and, i'm not an impatient guy so, w00t w00t can't wait to see them fixed. Here they are

1 MP (creative) is a little buggy. The host is the only one who tends to see all the action going on in the map. For example, if a cannon has a prediction piece on it, and you are the client, you won't be able to see the line drawn to show where your round will go. YOu also can't see the power, speed, drag, so on so forth. Now, do'nt get me wrong, the client can still do everything the host can, but the downside is, he won't SEE everything he's doing. Creative is basically no resource costs, on the campaign map, where you and all connected players can just, build. MP (AI fight) is a neat concept, but it can be hard finding games up unless you have buddies who have the game to get on at the same time. Basically, you build a ship with an AI interface. You load it against someone elses, and you both watch the ships fight to the death, with no involvement from you. It's great to do to see how your creations stack up against other players. Neat little game mode.2 AI in campaign is, well, garbage >.> As in you can just flot over to a ship, SHOOT the AI mainframe, and walla you have a new ship. Now if you decide to not do that, it can get hard granted if you up the difficulty it does get pretty rough, BUT you have to have a high end machine to handle the big boys, and that means you may be annoyed with the scrub ships your stuck on depending on your gaming monster which takes me into 3 Frame rate can get pretty low when alot of stuff is going on. Another *disclaimer* is that nick is already working on moving to a different game engine, in order to improve this. But as of now, if you aren't sporting a hot rod, and your just cruising with a sedan, you may want to keep your block count a little low to keep from getting to choppy. 4 Getting to space *this might be restricted to just me* Now i have been having the hardest time getting a ship to leave orbit and actually get into space. The only way I have been able to get into space is to, well, build in space. I've been trying to build jets with ion thrusters that could leave the planet go to space and come back in, but i've had no success. Again, this could be a just me moment, but it shouldn't be that hard to leave orbit if you already have the engines to get you to max altitude in the first place. which rolls me into 5 the playable field, while awesome, is also kinda limited. Now it's cool because, you can really chew someone up and they can't get away from you b/c the deepest the water gets is like, 50 meters, and the air goes up as far as 500 meters, and your weapons can easily reach 1000 + meters. So, ya, they can't get away unless they just run, horizontally, str8 away from you. However, if your on the 'oh ♥♥♥♥ i gots to go' end of this, ya, it sucks. You have nothing going for you as the height/depth of the playable area is pretty small and therefore you have to just go for speed to run for your life.

The last 2 cons, are the only ones on my list that I honestly don't know if the dev is working on, and to be honest, if he didn't change it, i wouldn't be heart broken. B/c yeah, it sucks to not be able to go higher or lower in order to increase my survivability, but it has led me to make more interesting designs with a little more armor to take those hits. And the space thing, meh, i can get over that, i'll just keep building in space.

End of discussion Game review - Overall, i've been in 18 Early access games, and so far, this one and space engineers are the only 2 that truly paid off. This one is STILL in early access, but still is truly on point and moving forward at an amazing pace. Again, great dev, great gaming community, evolving game interface and AI systems make it a truly unique experience. Again, if you would like to play a sandbox game, and bring some idea's to the table, or just enjoy the game, this is a great pick. and hey, it'll be going in and out of sale frequently, so get it when it's cheap. I could easily see this game going for 40+ once it's finished. great game. If you happen to get it, by all means send me a message to do some building together, or to blow each other up, i'm always down for both!!

Pretty solid in its current state, promising future, dev actually interacts with community and the game was a functional and playable product when released on Early Access, which already makes it more likely to not get abandoned than 99% of games on here.

That being said, if you want a more 'secure' project or a game that can be played for merits other than sandbox elements I'd wait a month or even several. There's a big update coming soonish to the 'main' gameplay mode, and a huge list of not-yet-implemented features at the current time.

Gameplay wise. It uses a very well fleshed out sandbox building tool to design ships either on the fly or in advance that can be made or spawned into the various game modes. Eventually should feature a rather lengthy campaign that looks like it'll basically be a set of scenarios and goals, simple but entertaining, a Multiplayer campaign mode ("world domination" style gameplay with resource zones and stuff), and single battles pitting ships against eachother within a resource budget.

Pros:-The building tools are amazing, actually including features like fill tools, mirroring both 'along a line' and between two blocks allowing both odd and even number symmetry. Saving and loading sub parts of vehicles (tad odd at this time), and a lot of other "Blatantly obvious" things that it's always annoying when sandbox games lack.

-The game appears to have a fleshed out backstory and lore that the vehicles of the factions and the story missions are being created to match, and will likely feature a content rich and interesting game world in the end.

-The aesthetics. The game's graphical style is quite nice, with wooden structures and vehicles appearing a tiny bit ramshackle but still sturdy, metal stuff solid and sleek in form but covered in weld lines and rivets, the avatars(player controlled characters) interesting and unique. All in all it reminds me of steampunk with a bit of a clunkier appearance that I think fits the general design of the game perfectly.

Neutral:-The weapons, while satsifying and powerful, suffer from a bit of 'one best option' problems. For example cannons are best served as being stupidly long guns with obscene fire rates, without much reason to do things like a massive caliber slow firing gun as you could make it rapid fire for purely an additional resource cost. Meaning "Bigger is always better, faster firing is always better" with nearly no exceptions.

-The combant. Sans current minor AI derpiness the combat is rather well done, with versatile weapon options for your vehicles, ammo and fuel management being things you need to take into account, and lots of information presented in nice visual and auditory manners that don't look out of place. (Shell tracers that indicate shell type, energy shields showing up in world, engines changing pitch by power drain, thrusters for fortresses and jets showing information about themselves by the color of their trails, etc)

Cons:-The AI is a little clunky at present, does ok navigating and fighting solo but tends to ram allies repeatedly, make a beeline for stationary structures or sky forts and get caught on those, and the 'orders' system is as of this update not terribly useful or fleshed out, and results in even more of the above. Unfortunately, this is also a key feature of the game, and will almost be required for success in campaign after the coming update, so hopefully it's put in a better state in the next few updates.

-Lacking in content, obviously, it's an Early Access game, but the core gameplay ideas are present and largely functional.

-Multiplayer is in early testing this version, don't buy it for that, yet.

-Current implementation of campaign mode maps is unwieldy and a little derpy in how it handles diplomacy, e.g. allies will 'capture' any territories you leave defended only by structures or empty, but you will still receive resources from your harvesting objects there. Next version this should change but we have limited info on that, so perhaps hold off if that bothers you.